1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus, method, program, and storage medium for efficiently managing an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
So-called online photo systems have recently become popular; they allow a user to upload images obtained with a camera to a Web server (to be referred to as a server hereinafter) and allow user's friends and acquaintances to access the Web server and view the images. In these systems, images move from a local personal computer (to be referred to as a “PC” hereinafter) to the server upon upload.
As the number of images increases, the work of uploading images to the server or deleting them from the server becomes cumbersome.
In order to prevent this, a method of synchronizing images stored in the local PC with those in the server is available. To synchronize data between apparatuses, conventionally, one apparatus refers to the contents of the other apparatus, and upon detecting a change in data, updates the data of its own to obtain data identical to the other apparatus (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-154110).
However, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-154110 discloses only an arrangement that reflects the data of the synchronization source on the data of the synchronization destination between the two apparatuses.
In an online photo system, normally, a user selects images to be on public view and uploads them to a server. Conversely speaking, the user uploads, to the server, no images to be kept in private.
The arrangement of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-154110 however uploads all images in the local PC to the server. To solve this problem, the user must select images or folders to be uploaded one by one, and for this, confirm images in the local PC and images in the server; the result is cumbersome.